Hiragana
are used for words without Kanji representation, for words no longer
written in Kanji, and also following Kanji to show conjugational
endings, example 食べる(to eat). Because of the way verbs (and adjectives) in Japanese are
conjugated, Kanji alone cannot fully convey Japanese tense and mood, as Kanji cannot be subject to variation when written without losing its
meaning. For this reason, Hiragana are suffixed to the ends of Kanji to
show verb and adjective conjugations. Hiragana used in this way are
called Okurigana(送り仮名, accompanying letters). Hiragana can also be written in a
superscript called Furigana (振り仮名) above or beside a Kanji to show the proper
reading. Furigana are also known as Yomigana (読み仮名) or Rubi (ルビ) in Japanese.This is done to facilitate learning, as well as to clarify
particularly old or obscure (or sometimes invented) readings.

Another use of Hiragana is joshi (助詞)—grammatical particles—small, common words that, for example, mark sentence topics, subjects and objects, or function similarly to English prepositions like "in", "to", etc.

Below is the summary of the use Hiragana

ending of verbs and adjectives

post-positional particles, auxiliary verbs

words without Kanji

indication of the reading of kanji

Below is the table of the 46 ( with 2 obsolete--'wi' and 'we') basic characters of Hiragana.It also shows the method for writing each Hiragana character. It is arranged in the traditional way, beginning top right and reading columns down (a, i, u, e, o, ka, ki, ku,...). The numbers and arrows indicate the stroke order and direction respectively.When you practicing, try to follow the stroke and direction as it is outlined.

I suggest you try to learn to write the characters in a set of 5, for example column (a, i, u, e, o).

There are more sounds in Japanese than just the 46 Hiragana characters. In order to make the other sounds, all you have to do is take the Hiragana you have learned above and 1) add a 'ten ten', 2) add a 'maru' or 3) use a small ゃya, ゅyu or ょyo. We will look at each one briefly:

PART ONE - ADDING THE 'TEN TEN' and 'MARU'

How to make the 'ten-ten' letters. A 'ten-ten' is like a double- quote (") It changes the sound of the letter to a harder sound. You can ONLY 'ten-ten' the 'K' column (ka, ki, ku, ke, ko), the 'S' column (sa, si, su, se, so), the 'T' column (ta, chi(ti), tsu(tu), te, to) and the 'H' column (ha, hi, hu, he, ho).

The circle '゜' is called a 'maru' and changes the 'H‘ column (ha, hi, hu, he, ho) to a 'P‘ sound. After studying the chart and repeating (outloud) many times, it should start to seem natural to you.

Now look at the chart below. You will see that

the 'K か' column becomes 'G が' (still the same good かka only with a ten-ten ("); notice it is a harder sound)

the 'S さ' column becomes 'Z ざ' (again harder sound)

the 'T た' column becomes 'D だ'

the 'H は' column becomes 'B ば' or 'P ぱ' ('B' is with a ten-ten (ex. ばba) and 'P' is with a circle (ex. ぱpa))

PART THREE - Small TSU (TU)っOne more thing... You have learned っtsu (tu) - But sometimes it appears smaller than other letters. This causes a slight pause or break between syllables. For example, in English we say a slight pause after "book" in "booK Club".

Example: ちょっとchotto (which means 'a little') pronounced "cho - to" with a slight break between syllables. In Romaji it is usually written by repeating the next consonant as with 'choTTo.'

Example: ざっしzasshi (magazine) pronounced "za - shi"_

_

The complete table of Hiragana Characters.

Finally, I can conclude our study of the Hiragana lessons. For your reference, I have included a complete table of Hiragana characters. I know it's hard for most of you to remember all these alien characters in a short period of time; but with practice and patient you will be able to master them ---Practice makes perfect.

P.S. To view the larger version of the table, please use the "ZOOM IN" function of your browser's "VIEW" tab.

あ
a

い
i

う
u

え
e

お
o

か
ka

き
ki

く
ku

け
ke

こ
ko

が
ga

ぎ
gi

ぐ
gu

げ
ge

ご
go

さ
sa

し
shi

す
su

せ
se

そ
so

ざ
za

じ
ji

ず
zu

ぜ
ze

ぞ
zo

た
ta

ち
chi

つ
tsu

て
te

と
to

だ
da

ぢ
ji

づ
zu

で
de

ど
do

な
na

に
ni

ぬ
nu

ね
ne

の
no

は
ha

ひ
hi

ふ
fu

へ
he

ほ
ho

ば
ba

び
bi

ぶ
bu

べ
be

ぼ
bo

ぱ
pa

ぴ
pi

ぷ
pu

ぺ
pe

ぽ
po

ま
ma

み
mi

む
mu

め
me

も
mo

や
ya

ゆ
yu

よ
yo

ら
ra

り
ri

る
ru

れ
re

ろ
ro

わ
wa

を
wo

ん
n/m

Combinations

きゃ
kya

きゅ
kyu

きょ
kyo

ぎゃ
gya

ぎゅ
gyu

ぎょ
gyo

しゃ
sha

しゅ
shu

しょ
sho

じゃ
ja

じゅ
ju

じょ
jo

ちゃ
cha

ちゅ
chu

ちょ
cho

にゃ
nya

にゅ
nyu

にょ
nyo

ひゃ
hya

ひゅ
hyu

ひょ
hyo

びゃ
bya

びゅ
byu

びょ
byo

ぴゃ
pya

ぴゅ
pyu

ぴょ
pyo

みゃ
mya

みゅ
myu

みょ
myo

りゃ
rya

りゅ
ryu

りょ
ryo

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